The growth beat out market expectations by some margin – consensus among economists and analysts was that the economy would grow 0.4% for the quarter, given the heightened levels of load shedding taking place. At best, optimistic views were for 0.7%.
According to Stats SA, however, the output from the country’s various economic sectors was higher than anticipated, and the reported number is four times higher than the predictions.
Notably, Stats SA’s data shows that South Africa’s economy in the third quarter was larger than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering good news about the country’s economic recovery following two years of lockdown.
Production from the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry increased by 19.2% in the third quarter, contributing 0.5 of a percentage point to GDP growth. Increased economic activities were reported for field crops and horticulture products.
Finance, real estate and business services increased at a rate of 1.9% in the third quarter, contributing 0.5 of a percentage point to GDP growth. Increased economic activity was reported for financial intermediation, insurance and pension funding, auxiliary activities, real estate activities and other business services.
The transport, storage and communication industry increased by 3.7%, contributing 0.3 of a percentage point. Increased economic activities were reported for land transport, transport support services and communication services.
The manufacturing industry increased by 1.5% in the third quarter, contributing 0.2 of a percentage point to GDP growth. Seven of the ten manufacturing divisions reported positive growth rates in the third quarter, Stats SA said.
The motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment division made the largest contribution to the increase in the third quarter. The food and beverages division and the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division also made significant contributions to growth.
The unadjusted real GDP at market prices for the first nine months of 2022 increased by 2.3% compared with the first nine months of 2021, it said.